The Value of Fans To a Radio Station

Radio stations spend a lot of time and money chasing cume. And cume is important, for sure. The more customers, the better the chance to build a loyal fan base. But many stations put far too much emphasis on attracting more listeners, when they should be concentrating on the value of fans. And this alone is enough to cause a logical person to immediately invest in database marketing.

Building fans is hard, and it takes time. Listeners don’t change habits quickly or easily. That’s even more true for products they don’t think about much and don’t have to pay for (radio).

Step back and evaluate the impact of fans, and it’s easy to understand:

Overall, the audience doesn’t listen much. In fact, 50% of a station’s Daily Cume tunes in less than 2.5 minutes per day. Wow.

The vast majority of a staton’s ratings come from a small fraction of their best listeners. At most stations, about 90% of the quarter hours come from just 10% of the audience.